First Flight Experience | Cessna Walkaround

You may have seen our dear friend Bob Parmalee making guest appearances in episodes and vlogs as of late. Remember him in the control line episode?! He is such a gift and wealth of knowledge in the RC world. And it’s no wonder that he is considering he has 60 years of full-scale aviation experience!

Bob began his career in flight in 1957 when he had his first-ever solo. After he graduated high school, he went down to Embry Riddle to get his ratings and came back to the Wadsworth area to become a flight instructor. He then became an FAA designated examiner for private and commercial licenses. After that he was a corporate pilot for 40 years.

As you can see from his experience, Bob is no stranger to teaching “newbies” all aspects of the aircraft as well as flight. And because we love bringing more full scale content to all of you we decided it would be wonderful to learn one of the first and very important lessons a pilot-in-training gets: an aircraft walkaround. 

A walkaround is the familiarization of an aircraft the pilot-in-training will eventually fly. The purpose of it is for he or she to begin to understand the aircraft he or she will be flying, what each part of the aircraft does as well as give he or she practice in going through the pre-flight checklist.

Bob took Stefan through a walkaround with the 1965 Cessna 182 Skylane. Then after the thorough lesson, Bob took Stefan for a well-deserved ride!

Curious what a complete Cessna 182 checklist entails? Check it out here. 

Do you have unique full scale planes, pilot experiences or other interesting stories? Share them with us not only below, but also through our general aviation page. Happy flying!